


Chance

by Melacka



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Blind Date, F/M, Lizzington AU, Some Fluff, Taking Chances, some flirting, very little plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 03:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17154818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melacka/pseuds/Melacka
Summary: When Liz is stood up for a blind date she didn't even want to have, a passing stranger comes to her rescue.Lizzington AU.





	Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rories/gifts).



> A Blacklist Secret Santa present for elizabethkween (rories). Hope you enjoy!

Liz glanced at her watch furtively and sighed. She didn’t know how much longer she could wait it out. It was already getting to Desperate Loser levels on the pathetic scale, and she had been avoiding the waiter’s eye for the last 15 minutes. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d finally caved to the pressure of her colleague and agreed to this blind date. Meera had assured her that she’d known this guy for years and was absolutely convinced that they’d hit it off. She’d told Liz that he was cute, charming, funny. That he was a school teacher with no known criminal record, good credit rating, fantastic with kids, blah blah blah. It was just a pity that _punctual_ couldn’t be added to that list. He was now nearly half an hour late. Liz had been through some pretty bad experiences in her recent romantic life, sure, but being publicly stood up by a blind date that she hadn’t even _wanted_ to go on was a new low for her.

She accidentally caught the waiter’s eye and smiled confidently at him, groaning internally when he took this as an invitation to come over.

“Ma’am, are you expecting the rest of your party soon?” he said in a low, sympathetic tone that instantly enraged her. “It’s just that we’re rather busy and—”

“I’m so sorry I’m late!”

Liz looked up in shock at the man taking the seat opposite her. It definitely wasn’t her date. Liz had never met this Tom guy, but she’d seen pictures before and this man looked nothing like him. He smiled apologetically at her as the waiter made polite apologies and backed away.

“Traffic was murder and I believe I went to the wrong address,” he continued blithely. “I mean, what are the chances that there is a restaurant with almost the exact same name two streets over? Of all the luck!”

“Uh—” Liz said blankly.

“Just play along,” he said, leaning forward and dropping his voice to a whisper. “We can both leave in five minutes if you like. Let’s just make a decent showing of it for now, hmm?”

Liz made an effort to smooth her face into an expression of polite interest and leaned forward as well.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the theatrics and misdirection,” she whispered hurriedly, “and I am grateful for the intervention with the waiter, believe me. So, I hope you don’t think I’m being rude or anything, but who the hell are you?”

“I’m Raymond, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you?” Liz said incredulously. “Are you serious?”

“Well, I haven’t spent enough time with you yet to know if it will actually turn out _nice_ , but I am an optimist by nature.”

“I don’t understand—”

“I passed by this restaurant approximately half an hour ago and happened to notice you sitting alone. And then when I walked by again just now, I saw you still alone and, if you will forgive me for saying so, looking quite miserable.”

“What?”

“Oh yes, _quite_ miserable. I thought that I would come in and help you find your way through. Whoever was meant to be coming tonight probably wasn’t worth your time anyway.”

Liz glanced down at the table and bit her lip, deep in thought. She couldn’t decide if the man had been incredibly sweet or incredibly creepy by doing that. Who crashes someone else’s blind date, for god’s sake? On the other hand, he had turned up just in time to prevent her from having to slink away and never come back to this restaurant again. She quite liked this restaurant, she hadn’t wanted to follow through on that particular self-imposed ban.

“So,” the waiter said, having returned while Liz contemplated her life choices, “are we ready to order?”

“Just give us one moment, please,” Liz said, glancing up and meeting Raymond’s eyes. “I think we’d like to choose something from the wine list first.”

“Very good, ma’am,” the waiter said, producing one from behind his back and trying to hand it to her.

“Oh no, please give it to him,” she said airily, gesturing across the table. “I’m just going to have to trust you to make the right decision.” After the waiter had disappeared again, she held her hand out across the table and waited for him to take it. “I’m Elizabeth. It’s very nice to meet you.”

* * * * *

Liz had never had a more enjoyable date in her life. She couldn’t quite believe how her evening had turned out. She’d spent the whole day dreading this experience, with good reason, as it turned out. But now, she was sitting with a charming man, doing his best to be as unobtrusively entertaining as he could be. He was handsome, articulate, witty and well-travelled. Liz still felt the faintest stirrings of suspicion in her mind at just what had caused him to come to her rescue, but she waited until they were just finishing their dessert before asking.

“What really made you come in here tonight?”

He looked surprised. Granted, he had been in the middle of a story about the Galapagos Islands when she blurted her question out, but he regained his composure quickly.

“I told you, I saw you as I passed—”

“Yes, but why did you even notice me? Why come in?”

He laughed softly at that and gestured towards her dress. She looked down at herself, confused.

“The colour of your dress caught my eye as I passed the first time,” he explained with a chuckle. “Red looks marvellous on you, did you know?”

Liz gaped at him, a little stunned.

“And as I said before, when I saw you looking so absolutely devastated as I came back again, though clearly trying to hide it, I thought that I should take a chance.”

“Take a chance? With a complete stranger?”

“Isn’t that what you were doing tonight? You hadn’t met the gentleman you were supposed to have a date with before, had you? Weren’t you taking a chance?”

“Well, I—” she stammered. “That’s different.”

“Yes, but only by a matter of degrees. I saw you and was intrigued by you. A beautiful woman like yourself is bound to draw notice, but _I_ happened to notice—”

“That I looked miserable, I remember.”

“No, that’s not what I was going to say. I noticed that you were still here. Still _willing_ to take a chance, even in spite of the difficulty.”

“You realised all of that as you passed by the restaurant?” Liz scoffed incredulously. “Just how long were you lurking about out there? My date could have been in the bathroom for all you know.”

He laughed again and shook his head, looking at her in a way that she could only describe as _warm_.

“And that was a chance I was willing to take.”

* * * * *

After a brief verbal tussle over who was paying the bill, during which Liz tried to concede graciously when she realised it was an impossible fight, they stood on the street outside of the restaurant, looking expectantly at each other.

“So—” Liz said awkwardly. “Thanks for dinner.”

“It was my pleasure.”

Liz didn’t know how to proceed at this point. She’d never been in this position before and hoped it wasn’t going to become a regular feature of her dating life. She was also starting to feel the cold, having neglected to bring a coat with her tonight.

“Let me see if I can make this easier for you, Elizabeth,” he said gently. “Thank you for a lovely evening. It has been an honour to spend time with you.” And with that, he lifted her hand gently to his lips and pressed a featherlight kiss to her knuckles. “Good night.”

He was walking away before she could react. She stared after him in shock, watching until he turned a corner and was gone. Then she sprang into action, darting after him awkwardly in her heels.

“Raymond!” Liz called out, puffing a little in the cold and she walked quickly towards him. “Wait!”

“Elizabeth? What are you doing?” His eyes widened as she got closer and he realised that she was without a coat. He immediately pulled his coat off and moved to drape it around her shoulders. “It is _freezing_ , Elizabeth. What can have possessed you—”

Liz passively submitted to his fussing and smiled in relief when he put his coat around her, pulling it closed and doing up the buttons as he continued to scold her.

“What can have been _so_ urgent that you needed to rush out here in the middle of winter without a coat on?”

She didn’t reply, just continued to smile at him.

“Well?” he said impatiently. “If you’ve just come to smile at me, we could have done that in the restaurant.”

“I just wanted to thank you,” Liz said in a rush. “I was in a really bad way when you came in—”

“You’re welcome,” he said distractedly, rubbing his hands up and down her arms vigorously, still trying to warm her.

“No, I mean it!”

“So do I.”

“Raymond, please,” she said desperately. “Will you let me—”

“What?”

His hands rested gently on her arms and she decided to throw caution to the wind. Taking a step closer to him, she tilted her face up to his. She hesitated and met his eyes nervously. His eyes were wide in shock and she quirked an eyebrow in question before moving in the rest of the way. She pressed her lips gently to his for a moment before pulling back to check his reaction. He hadn’t moved at all and she felt her heart sink a little. Preparing to pull away again, he clenched his hands almost painfully on her arms to arrest her movement.

“Elizabeth,” he gasped. “What—”

Emboldened somewhat, she leaned forward again. Liz pressed her lips directly to his for a teasing moment, before parting them slightly and sucking on his bottom lip gently for a second. His lips parted and a pleased little noise slipped out. Liz felt a rush of satisfaction at the sound. She wanted to hear it again. As she pulled back again to look at him and saw that his eyes had drifted closed, she felt her heartbeat speed up a little. Seeing him looking almost vulnerable like that was a surprisingly pleasant sensation. This close to him she could smell his cologne clearly and the faintest trace of alcohol on his breath. She also noticed the fine pinstripe of his shirt and the high quality of his clothes. She hadn’t even thought to look when they were inside but now, she was fascinated by everything about this man. He let out a sigh and leaned his forehead against hers, eyes still closed. She closed her eyes too and pulled her body in closer to his, pressing against his torso slightly.

“Elizabeth?” he questioned, still not moving.

“I had a really nice time tonight, Raymond,” Liz whispered, opening her eyes and tilting her head back so she could watch his face. He opened his eyes and stared curiously at her. “And I wanted to thank you.”

“Is this how you thank all of your dates?” he murmured, nuzzling his nose against hers lightly.

“No, not really. This was more a declaration of intent.”

“Oh? And just what are your intentions with me?” he asked, a smile spreading across his face irresistibly.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Liz said carelessly. “Maybe dinner, or a movie, or coffee. I just _really_ want to kiss you again.”

“Then kiss me again,” he said quickly, leaning in closer.

Liz just shook her head and stood back, gently removing his now very cold hands from her arms.

“Why not?” he said, sounding almost pleading.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Raymond, but I haven’t had the best luck with men lately.”

“You’re going to compare me—” he began indignantly.

“And I fully intend to kiss you again someday,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “But I’ve just had the best date of my life with you, and I wasn’t even able to enjoy it.” She traced her hand down the line of his tie thoughtfully. “The build-up was all wrong. I didn’t get to feel that _expectation_. The butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing you. The delicious anticipation of when you’ll kiss me. Or wondering if I’ll get up the courage to kiss you.”

“You got up the courage tonight,” he reminded her, sounding a little flustered.

“Yes,” Liz agreed solemnly. “And I look forward to the many hours I will spend thinking about it in the future. Hence my declaration of intent.”

“You still haven’t told me what you intend,” he reminded her.

“I _intend_ to go on another date with you, Raymond, if you are willing.”

“Willing?”

“To take a chance on me.”

He grinned at her and she felt an answering grin on her face. She pulled out the lipstick from her purse and took hold of his hand confidently. Very slowly, she traced her phone number in big red digits on his hand.

“Call me,” she said when she was done. “And we can talk more about my intentions.”

He glanced down at his hand and then back up at her, quirking an eyebrow flirtatiously.

“Besides,” she said, starting to walk away, “you’ll be wanting your coat back someday.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read/leave kudos/comment. It's often the best part of my day, seeing those notifications!


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